SFU researchers among winners of prestigious Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

Scientists from Simon Fraser University are among the thousands of researchers worldwide honoured with the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, awarded to the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) alongside its sister experiments ALICE, CMS and LHCb.

Faculty members at SFU working on ATLAS are: Matthias Danninger, Dugan O’Neil, Luise Poley, Bernd Stelzer, and Mike Vetterli.

ATLAS is one of the largest and most complex scientific instruments ever built. As a general-purpose particle detector measuring over 40 metres in length and around 25 metres in height, it was designed to investigate the fundamental building blocks of matter and the forces governing our universe. Its cutting-edge systems track particles produced in particle collisions at unprecedented energies, enabling discoveries like the Higgs boson and searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model.

The Breakthrough Prize specifically highlights the ATLAS Collaboration’s significant contributions to particle physics, including detailed measurements of Higgs boson properties, studies of rare processes and matter-antimatter asymmetry, and the exploration of nature under the most extreme conditions.

“The Breakthrough Prize is a testament to the dedication and ingenuity of the ATLAS Collaboration and our colleagues across the LHC experiments,” says ATLAS Spokesperson Stephane Willocq.

“I am extremely proud to see the extraordinary accomplishments of the LHC collaborations honoured with this prestigious Prize,” said Fabiola Gianotti, Director-General of CERN. “It is a beautiful recognition of the collective efforts, dedication, competence and hard work of thousands of people from all over the world who contribute daily to pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.”

Simon Fraser University has been at the forefront of ATLAS research since 2002, contributing to or leading:

• The construction and operation of the Canadian Tier-1 Data Analysis Centre, as well as smaller Tier-2 centres, critical for the analysis of ATLAS data, coordinated on a worldwide network of high-performance computing centres.
• The precise measurements of the properties of the Higgs boson. 
• Development of techniques to study ‘jets’ of particles and tau leptons resulting from the high-energy proton collisions.

SFU physicists also led the study of long-lived particles in the detector, which could point the way to new physics. 

"Our team's work in a wide variety of both technical and physics analysis areas exemplifies the innovation driving ATLAS forward," says SFU physics professor Mike Vetterli. "This recognition affirms the impact of our contributions and inspires us to continue exploring the universe’s most fundamental questions."

While the ATLAS Collaboration celebrates the recognition of the Breakthrough Prize, its focus remains firmly on the future. The third operation period of the LHC is currently underway and preparations for the High-Luminosity LHC upgrade are advancing rapidly. SFU's team of 22 physicists and engineers is deeply involved in preparing ATLAS for its next phase. They are leading the development and construction of one of the key components of the upgraded ATLAS New Inner Tracking Detector (ITk) for the High-Luminosity LHC, which will increase collision rates tenfold when it begins operation in 2030.

“We are now preparing the ATLAS detectors of the future — designed to harness these unprecedented data and further push our understanding of the universe’s fundamental building blocks,” conclude Bernd Stelzer and Matthias Danninger.